President Donald Trump said Sunday that he was disappointed with Russia for launching missiles while trying to reach a peace deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Trump spoke with reporters before boarding Air Force One on Sunday evening, where he was asked about everything from the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and Iranian peace talks to the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre.

During the gaggle, the president said his meeting on Saturday with Zelenskyy went very well.

“We’ll see what happens over the next few days,” Trump said. “I was very disappointed that missiles were flying, by Russia…very disappointed.”

TRUMP AND ZELENSKYY HAVE ‘VERY PRODUCTIVE’ TALK AS THEY ATTEND POPE FRANCIS’ FUNERAL

Trump and Zelenskyy met face-to-face for the first time since their infamous Oval Office spat in February, as both were attending Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome.

After the meeting, the Ukrainian president posted on X that the meeting was “very symbolic” and could potentially be “historic.”

The meeting came as peace talks between Russia and Ukraine appeared to be at a standstill with Zelenskyy and Putin making competing demands.

TRUMP INSISTS UKRAINE-RUSSIA PEACE DEAL IS CLOSE, BUT MISTRUST IN PUTIN LEAVES EXPERTS SKEPTICAL

Trump called the meeting with Zelenskyy on Saturday “beautiful.”

“Look, we have a tough road ahead, okay?” Trump said. “He told me that he needs more weapons, but he’s been saying that for three years. He needs more weapons, and we’re going to see what happens.

“I want to see what happens with respect to Russia,” Trump added.

He explained that he was very disappointed with Russia for conducting bombings in Kyiv after the discussions with both countries.

NIKKI HALEY ON RUSSIA AND UKRAINE SAYS US SHOULD ‘WANT TO BE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY’

Trump said Zelenskyy spoke to him about Crimea, which has been a sticking point for the Ukrainian president.

American officials have apparently floated the idea of recognizing Russia’s control of Crimea, a territory that Russia seized in 2014, as part of a ceasefire proposal. This would also involve the freezing of current frontlines.

But Zelenskyy has drawn a red line about Crimea.

In 2022, Zelenskyy said the Russian war against Ukraine and against the entire free Europe “began with Crimea and must end with Crimea – and its liberation,” according to a report from Axios.

VANCE ISSUES ULTIMATUM TO RUSSIA, UKRAINE ON PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

On Tuesday, Zelenskyy reiterated his stance, shutting down the idea that Ukraine would recognize Russian control of Crimea.

Trump blamed the state of Crimea on former U.S. presidents.

“Crimea was given away by Barack Hussein Obama, and by Biden, like 11 or 12 years ago. That’s a long time ago,” Trump told reporters. “I don’t know how he could bring up Crimea, because that’s been a long time. Nobody brought it up for 12 years, and now they’re bringing it up now. So, I told them, I told him, he should maybe go back to Obama, ask him why they gave it up. They gave it without a shot being fired by him.”

As far as current negotiations about reaching peace, Trump said he wanted Putin to “stop shooting, sit down and sign a deal.”

“We have the confines of a deal, I believe, and I want him to sign it and be done with it,” the president said.

TRUMP SAYS ‘INFLAMMATORY’ ZELENSKYY STATEMENT ON CRIMEA PROLONGS WAR WITH RUSSIA

Since his return to the Oval Office, Trump said the U.S. has been more respected than ever before. He also noted that with that strength, there are actions he can take against Russia, though he is not looking to act.

“There’s no more games,” he said before taking another dig at former President Biden. “We have somebody that knows what he’s doing, not like the previous person who didn’t have a clue.”

Trump touted that since implementing tariffs, costs are dropping “way down.”

For instance, he said groceries, eggs and gasoline are coming down. He also said the U.S. is collecting “a lot” of money from the tariffs.

“Eventually, we’ll be reducing taxes very substantially to the people of our country because the money is so great coming in from tariffs, that I’ll be able to reduce taxes to a very large extent, and maybe almost completely,” Trump said.

Along with tariffs, the president addressed peace negotiations in Iran, saying he thinks the deal is going to be made without “having to start dropping bombs all over the place.”

VIRGINIA GIUFFRE, JEFFREY EPSTEIN AND PRINCE ANDREW ACCUSER, DEAD AT 41 BY SUICIDE: REPORT

On a more somber note, Trump was asked for his reaction to Virginia Giuffre’s suicide in Australia.

Giuffre, 41, one of Epstein’s and Prince Andrew’s most prominent accusers, filed a lawsuit against the English royal in New York in 2021. In the lawsuit, Giuffre claimed she was forced to have sex with him three times between 1999 and 2002, when she was underage.

She died in Neergabby, Australia over the weekend, where she had been living, according to an NBC report.

“Well, it’s a very sad situation, the whole thing,” Trump said. “That whole situation is very sad, her and others. And so certainly that’s a horrible thing, horrible.”

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson, Bradford Betz and Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.

Trump national security adviser Mike Waltz reiterated the administration’s support for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Sunday, saying they “couldn’t be prouder” of his early months in the role, despite a wave of high-profile controversies and resignations that have embroiled the department in recent weeks.

Speaking to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday, Waltz was pressed about the alleged dysfunction inside the Pentagon’s top ranks— and whether, in his view, the current Pentagon is equipped to deliver on lofty foreign policy goals, including helping broker a negotiated settlement in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Can you do this in what appears to be a chaotic, weakened Defense Department?” Bartiromo asked Waltz on “Sunday Morning Futures,” citing reports of chaos and dysfunction, including recent firings of Hegseth’s top aides, and reports he has been threatening polygraph tests for some staffers at the department.

“I’ll tell you about a weakened Pentagon,” Waltz fired back. “That was one that had a Defense Secretary that disappeared for two weeks just last year, and nobody knew about it.” 

DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH REBUFFS NEW GROUP CHAT ALLEGATIONS AS ATTEMPT TO ‘SABOTAGE’ TRUMP’S AGENDA 

In contrast to his predecessor, Waltz said Hegseth is “leading from the front” at the Defense Department, and praised what he described as Hegseth’s early efforts to reform the Pentagon.

“He is leading the charge, and he has no tolerance for leaking,” Waltz said, dismissing the alleged chaos or dysfunction as a “media narrative,” and one he vowed they “are going to power through.”

Waltz also brushed off a question about the departures of senior aides, including Hegseth’s own chief of staff, Joe Kasper, last week.

The exodus of senior officials and other allegations of chaos from inside the Pentagon have prompted some Democrats to call for an investigation into his leadership.

But Waltz also brushed off these characterizations of dysfunction on Sunday. Asked by Bartiromo how he was going to replace the fired Pentagon officials, Waltz said in response: “Maria, there’s 20,000 people in the Pentagon.”

 “There is a record number of generals,” he said. “And the other piece— there is accountability. We have had several general officers that weren’t getting the job done, and admirals get fired and get replaced… That’s what the Pentagon needs.”

Waltz argued that that is a stark contrast to the longtime culture at the Pentagon, where he said “no one ever gets fired, [and] there’s never a sense of accountability.”

“And now there is,” he told Bartiromo.

“Whether it’s leaks, or not getting the job done, or failures in terms of procurement acquisition, now you have a leader that’s in charge,” Waltz said. “And I couldn’t be prouder of Pete Hegseth.”

HEGSETH SHARED DETAILS OF YEMEN STRIKES IN SECOND SIGNAL CHAT: REPORT

Waltz’s remarks come as Hegseth’s role has come under mounting scrutiny in recent weeks — both for his participation in at least one Signal group chat in March where he discussed a planned military strike against the Houthis, and the firing of several senior staffers earlier this month.

Hegseth earlier this month fired three top aides: including his aide, Dan Caldwell, his deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick, and the chief of staff to the deputy defense secretary, Colin Carroll. 

These oustings were described as both “baffling” and alarming by John Ullyot, a former Pentagon communications official who resigned earlier this year.

“The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership,” Ullyot wrote in an op-ed for Politico.

The White House, however, has sought to emphasize its support for Hegseth in recent days, with both Vice President JD Vance and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt vehemently dismissing reports that the administration could be considering a possible replacement. 

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“Let me reiterate: The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth and the change that he is bringing to the Pentagon, and the results that he’s achieved thus far speak for themselves,” Leavitt told reporters at a briefing last week, describing the reports as a “smear campaign.”

President Donald Trump’s 15th week in office will include his 100th day back in the White House, which he will celebrate by hosting a rally in Michigan – the last state he campaigned in before polls opened on Election Day of last year. 

“President Trump is excited to return to the great state of Michigan next Tuesday, where he will rally in Macomb County to celebrate the FIRST 100 DAYS!” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an X post announcing the rally. 

Trump’s presidential campaigns in 2016, 2020 and 2024 all ended with rallies in the battleground state of Michigan. Trump’s visit to Macomb County this week follows his final 2024 campaign rally in Grand Rapids, where he joined the crowds just after midnight in the final hours before his victory over then-Vice President Kamala Harris. 

The event is billed as a celebration of Trump’s “LEGENDARY start to his presidency,” according to the Republican National Committee’s website. The rally will be held at Macomb Community College in Warren and will kick off at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday. 

TRUMP TO HOLD RALLY TUESDAY IN CELEBRATION OF FIRST 100 DAYS, LEAVITT SAYS

Trump wraps up his 100th day in office with more executive orders signed than any other president over the same period since President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Trump has signed at least 137 executive orders, ranging from dismantling the Department of Education, establishing the Department of Government Efficiency, and stripping diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from the fabric of the federal government following the Biden administration. 

Trump returned from Rome on Saturday after attending Pope Francis’ funeral mass at the Vatican with first lady Melania Trump. Trump met with Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy during the trip as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to rage and negotiations for peace stall. 

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, shortly after he met with Zelenskyy at the Vatican on Saturday. 

TRUMP AND ZELENSKYY HAVE ‘VERY PRODUCTIVE’ TALK AS THEY ATTEND POPE FRANCIS’ FUNERAL

“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!” he added.

While on the campaign trail, Trump vowed to end the war between Russia and Ukraine in a matter of 24 hours, but negotiations have proven difficult. Trump’s Truth Social post on Saturday followed Russia launching a missile strike on Kyiv that injured dozens and killed at least 12. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the coming week will be “very critical” as the White House weighs whether it wants to continue working towards a peace deal. Rubio warned this month that the U.S. might “move on” from trying to secure a deal between Russia and Ukraine if progress was not made. 

“I think this is going to be a very critical week,” Rubio said on Sunday. “This week is going to be a really important week in which we have to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in or if it’s time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally, if not more, important in some cases. But we want to see it happen. There are reasons to be optimistic, but there are reasons to be realistic, of course, as well. We’re close, but we’re not close enough.”

Trump put a 90-day pause on reciprocal, customized tariffs he had imposed on dozens of nations this month, sparking a trade deal negotiation blitz as dozens of nations began knocking on the proverbial doors of the White House in the hopes of striking more favorable terms. 

TRUMP SAYS HE HAD ‘GREAT CALL’ WITH SOUTH KOREAN LEADER, SUGGESTS DEAL POSSIBLE

The White House has met and spoken with a handful of nations looking to make deals, including South Korea last week. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said negotiations with the Asian nation have progressed quickly and that the two countries could reach a trade agreement as early as this week. 

“We had a very successful bilateral meeting with the Republic of South Korea today,” Bessent said from the White House on Thursday. “We may be moving faster than I thought, and we will be talking technical terms as early as next week as we reach an agreement on understanding as soon as next week.”

“So South Koreans came early. They came with their A game, and we will see if they follow through on that,” Bessent continued. 

Congress will reconvene on Monday following a spring recess, with Republican lawmakers expected to resume talks on a budget plan to advance Trump’s first-year agenda, including extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and carving out millions in funds for border security.

SCOOP: REPUBLICANS ROLL OUT $69B FUNDING PLAN FOR NEW CBP AGENTS, BUILDING BORDER WALL IN TRUMP BUDGET BILL

Democrats on Capitol Hill protested on Sunday ahead of Republicans returning to the table for budget plan talks. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker took to the steps of the Capitol on Sunday morning while flanked by supporters to protest the budget plan. 

“Republican leaders have made clear their intention to use the coming weeks to advance a reckless budget scheme to President Trump’s desk that seeks to gut Medicaid, food assistance and basic needs programs that help people, all to give tax breaks to billionaires. Given what’s at stake, these could be some of the most consequential weeks for seniors, kids and families in generations,” the two Democrat lawmakers wrote in a statement of the protests. 

Trump has repeatedly called on Republican lawmakers to pass the “big, beautiful” tax and spending package to advance his first-year agenda. 

Trump is expected to travel to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Thursday where he will deliver a commencement speech to graduating students at the University of Alabama. 

“I have agreed to do the Commencement Address at two really GREAT places, the University of Alabama and, WEST POINT. Stay tuned for times and dates!!!” Trump posted to Truth Social last week. 

Trump is expected to deliver his speech from the school’s Coleman Coliseum arena on Thursday evening. 

“The University of Alabama is honored to have been selected as one of the universities President Donald J. Trump will visit to deliver a spring commencement address,” the university said in a statement this month.

Trump previewed last week that his administration is in the midst of purchasing and installing massive flag poles to feature Ol’ Glory on both the north side lawn and south lawn of the White House. Trump told the media he will personally fund the flags and said they could be ready sometime this week. 

TRUMP UNFURLS PLANS FOR DOUBLE 100-FOOT FLAGPOLES DURING WHITE HOUSE LAWN WALK

“We’re putting up a beautiful, almost 100-foot-tall American flag on this side and another one on the other side, two flags, top of the line,” he told reporters on Wednesday outside the White House, adding they will be “paid for by Trump.”

“They needed flagpoles for 200 years. It was something I’ve often said, you know, they don’t have a flagpole per se. So we’re putting one right where you saw us, and we’re putting another one on the other side, on top of the mounds. It’s going to be two beautiful poles.”

Trump added on Wednesday that the flags will “arrive in about a week or so.” An American flag is currently only flown from the White House roof. 

President Donald Trump vowed Sunday to bring back Columbus Day “from the ashes,” while calling out Democrats for doing everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus’ reputation.

“I’m bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. “The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much.

“They tore down his Statues, and put up nothing but ‘WOKE,’ or even worse, nothing at all! Well, you’ll be happy to know, Christopher is going to make a major comeback,” Trump added. “I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!”

Columbus is commonly credited with discovering the “New World.” This after journeying across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain to find a direct route from Europe to Asia without traveling around the massive African continent. This inadvertently bridged the divide between Europe and what would eventually become North and South America.

DEFACED COLUMBUS STATUE THAT WAS THROWN INTO A VIRGINIA POND FINDS MORE WELCOMING HOME IN NYC SUBURB

Columbus’ ships – the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria – most likely landed on San Salvador, one of the Bahamian islands, before moving to different locations in search of valuable resources.

The controversial part of his history, however, revolves around enslavement and colonization. 

In recent years, the Columbus Day holiday has come under heightened scrutiny, with many opting to honor Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead.

PENNSYLVANIA APPEALS COURT REVIVES LEGAL BATTLE OVER PITTSBURGH’S EFFORTS TO REMOVE COLUMBUS STATUE

In fact, several statues of Columbus have been removed, defaced or even dragged and submerged into water over the past few years because of the controversy surrounding the historical figure.

An 8-foot-tall bronze statue of Columbus once housed at the entrance of Byrd Park in Richmond, Virginia, was uprooted by protesters in light of George Floyd’s 2020 death until finding a new home in a New York City suburb last year.

In images from the tumultuous summer, protesters are seen marching near the statue, holding signs that called for removal of imagery that recognizes colonizers to pay respect to indigenous communities.

RHODE ISLAND’S HIGHLY CRITICIZED COLUMBUS STATUE RE-EMERGES IN NEARBY TOWN AFTER BEING REMOVED 3 YEARS AGO

Other reports and images show the statue on the ground after being pulled down from its pedestal with ropes, defaced with spray paint and lit on fire.

The protesters then dragged the statue to a nearby pond and submerged it in water. 

The nearly 100-year-old homage to Columbus was later retrieved and restored before eventually being shipped to its new home at the Rockland Sons of Italy Lodge in the hamlet of Blauvelt, located approximately 20 miles northwest of New York City. 

Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump shut down all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices across the federal government during his first week in office and signed a number of executive orders to quickly undo former President Joe Biden’s efforts. 

The president, just hours after taking the Oath of Office on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, signed an executive order to eliminate all DEI programs from the federal government. He also quickly signed an order making it “the official policy of the U.S. government to only recognize two genders: male and female.” 

WHITE HOUSE OPM ORDERS ALL DEI OFFICES TO BEGIN CLOSING BY END OF DAY WEDNESDAY

A day later, the president directed the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to notify heads of agencies and departments to close all DEI offices and place those government workers in those offices on paid leave. 

That move quickly forced those offices to take down all outward facing media — websites, social media accounts, and more — for those DEI offices, and required the withdrawal of any final pending documents, directives, orders, materials and equity plans. 

Trump also canceled current and impending contracts focused on DEI initiatives, with Elon Musk, who heads up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), saying that move saved the federal government $420 million. 

The president also issued two other executive actions that day targeting DEI. 

One was an executive order to end discrimination in the workplace and higher education through race and sex-based preferences under the guise of DEI. 

The other was a memo to eliminate a Biden administration policy that prioritized DEI hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration. 

In the memo rolling back Biden’s DEI hiring practices at the FAA, Trump ordered the secretary of transportation and FAA administrator to immediately stop Biden’s DEI hiring programs and return to nondiscriminatory, merit-based hiring.

TRUMP VOWS ‘NEW ERA OF NATIONAL SUCCESS,’ SAYS AMERICA’S ‘DECLINE IS OVER’ IN INAUGURAL ADDRESS

Trump also required that the FAA administrator review the past performance and performance standards of all agency employees in critical safety positions and make it clear that anyone who fails to demonstrate adequate capability is replaced by someone who will ensure flight safety and efficiency.

“Illegal and discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring, including on the basis of race, sex, disability, or any other criteria other than the safety of airline passengers and overall job excellence, competency, and qualification, harms all Americans, who deserve to fly with confidence,” the memo read.

The memo stated: “All so-called DEI initiatives, including all dangerous preferencing policies or practices, shall immediately be rescinded in favor of hiring, promoting, and otherwise treating employees on the basis of individual capability, competence, achievement, and dedication.”

Trump also rescinded Biden’s order on diversity initiatives, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” which he signed on his first day in office in 2021. 

In February, the Department of Education also warned state education departments that they must remove DEI policies or risk losing federal funding.

That move came after Trump signed executive orders directing agencies to provide a plan to eliminate federal funding for “illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.”

MAJOR UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER ACCUSED OF HIDING DEI PROGRAMS, INFLUENTIAL SENATOR CALLS THEM OUT 

The president’s efforts to end DEI across the federal government also prompted the cancellation of such programs across the private sector. 

Meta, in January, canceled its DEI programs, as did McDonald’s. And after the 2024 election, Walmart, Ford Motor Co., John Deere, Lowe’s and Toyota also ended DEI programs. 

As recently as April, according to Forbes, IBM, Gannett, and Constellation Brands Inc., made changes to DEI policies. Earlier in 2025, UnitedHealth Group, MLB, Victoria’s Secret, Warner Bros. Discovery, Goldman Sachs, Paramount, Bank of America, BlackRock, Citigroup, Pepsi, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Coca-Cola, Deloitte, PBS, Google, Disney, GE, PayPal, Chipotle and more scaled back or canceled their DEI programs. 

Meanwhile, in March, the National Institutes of Health rescinded the agency’s “Scientific Integrity Policy” implemented during the last few weeks of Biden’s term, to peel back any DEI requirements. 

That Biden-era policy said that DEI was an “integral” part of “the entire scientific process,” and pushed NIH’s chief scientist and top scientific integrity official to “promote agency efforts regarding diversity, equity and inclusion.” It also instituted agency-wide policy directives ordering supervisors at the NIH to “support” scientists and researchers who are “asexual” or “intersex,” while imploring NIH leadership to “confer with relevant offices” when additional DEI expertise is needed.  

MULTIPLE FEDERAL AGENCIES END LINKEDIN CONTRACTS OVER DEI

“The Biden administration weaponized NIH’s scientific integrity policy to inject harmful DEI and gender ideology into research,” said Health and Human Services Department spokesperson, Andrew Nixon. “Rescinding this (scientific integrity) policy will allow NIH to restore science to its golden standard and protect the integrity of science.”      

The Biden administration also funded grants related to DEI, such as one for roughly $165,000 that was focused on “queering the curriculum” for family medicine doctors to guide them in their treatment of transgender patients. Those grants have been canceled. 

And earlier this week, multiple federal agencies told Fox News Digital that they have dropped millions of dollars in contracts for LinkedIn services over the business social network’s embrace of DEI. 

The Departments of Treasury, Interior and Veterans Affairs dropped LinkedIn — a move to comply with the president’s executive orders banning federal agencies from contracting with companies that embrace DEI policies. 

“Every American taxpayer should be angry that the Biden administration wasted so much money on contracts like these,” an Interior Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Under the leadership of President Trump, we have been combing through hundreds of thousands of contracts here at the Department alone and are canceling wasteful, woke, and downright ridiculous contracts that do not align with the will of the American people.” 

A LinkedIn spokesperson told Fox News Digital, in response, that: “Like every business, the organizations that use our products change, often driven by shifts in their budgets and priorities. We’re keeping our focus on helping our customers achieve the objectives they’ve set.” 

Fox News Digital’s David Spector and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report. 

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith criticized state Senate Democrats for equating a GOP legislative proposal intended to root out diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in higher education to the Three-Fifths Compromise. 

“They were saying this is a bad bill because it actually encourages discrimination, just like the Three-Fifths Compromise going all the way back to the foundations of our nation. I would like to share with you the Three-Fifths Compromise is not a pro-discrimination compromise,” Beckwith, a Republican, said in a video shared on X after an emotional floor debate. “It was not a pro-discrimination or a slave-driving compromise that the founders made. It was actually just the opposite.”

“Don’t buy into the DEI radical revisionist history that is happening in today’s culture,” he said. “Know your history. Go back and study the documents. Read them for yourself like I have. Go look them up and you will find that the Three-Fifths Compromise and many other things like that were designed to make sure that justice was equal for all people and equality really meant equality for all.” 

INDIANA GOV PULLS PLUG ON DEI IN ‘EXHILARATING’ MOVE FOR STATE

The legislation in question, Senate Bill 289, ultimately passed both chambers of the state legislature last week and heads to Republican Gov. Mike Braun’s desk. The bill restricts DEI programs at K–12 schools, charter schools, state agencies, and public universities and allows people to sue such institutions if they compel students, teachers or administrators to adopt that one race, sex, ethnicity, religion, or national origin “is inherently superior or inferior” to another, that a person’s moral character is determined by one of those characteristics, or that a person should be blamed for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, sex, ethnicity, religion, or national origin.

The GOP-sponsored bill – titled “unlawful discrimination” – also includes transparency requirements for institutions to post any DEI-related trainings online and repeals provisions concerning university diversity committees, among other reforms. It follows an executive action Braun, a former U.S. senator, issued when he took office as governor in January prioritizing merit over DEI in education and state government. 

Critics of the bill in the state Senate last week said the proposal leaves out of consideration a legacy of discrimination in the U.S., citing the Three-Fifths Compromise, Jim Crow laws and real estate redlining.

As for the Three-Fifths Compromise, Beckwith said it was “a compromise that the North made with the South. At the time, there were basically 13 independent nations.” 

“They had not really created a Constitution. They were sort of a European Union-esque nation, and they were saying to the pro-slave states, ‘Hey, if you want to count your slaves to have representation, more representation in Congress, we’re not going to let you do that,’ because they knew that that would codify things like slavery into our nation and the North stood up to the South,” Beckwith said. 

PASTOR LEADING TARGET DEI BOYCOTT CALLS MAGA, TRUMP ‘ROACHES’ IN EASTER SERMON

Made during the 1787 Constitutional Convention, the Three-Fifths Compromise set forth that slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a person when counting a state’s population for taxation and congressional representation. While it reduced the influence that slave-holding states initially wanted, it ultimately allowed them more seats in the House of Representatives and more sway in presidential contests in terms of the Electoral College than if free people were only counted.

The Three-Fifths Compromise ended after the Civil War with the adoption of the 13th and 14th Amendments, abolishing slavery and establishing equal protection under the Constitution. 

When the Constitution was being written, Beckwith explained, southern states considered slaves as property but still wanted to count slaves as part of their population in the census to get more members of Congress from the South. The North said if the South wanted it to count its “property,” or its slaves, as whole people in the census, the North would in turn count its tables, chairs and all their belongings in their homes as part of their population as well, according to the lieutenant governor. 

“They came up with a Three-Fifths Compromise. They said you will only get three-fifths of a vote when it comes to your slave. And what that did, it actually limited the number of pro-slave representatives in Congress by 40%. This was a great move by the North to make sure that slavery would be eradicated in our nation,” Beckwith said. “They knew what they were doing. But now here you have Senate Democrats in today’s American Republic who do not understand that.”

“They think the Three-Fifths Compromise was something that was a scourge on Black people. That’s not what it was. And how did we get to this place? We got to this because of DEI in education. We got here because you have professors at woke schools that will not teach the history of what actually happened back in the foundations of our nation,” Beckwith continued. “Many, many men and leaders in our nation’s history knew how wicked slavery was. They knew that God had created Black people, White people, red people, all people in his image, and they were fighting for equality for all, but they’re not taught that today, and that’s why you had the Senate Democrats who were getting up talking about the Three-Fifths Compromise like it was some sort of terrible thing in our past it was not it actually was the exact opposite that helped to root out slavery and lead us into a more perfect union that we now see.” 

Beckwith said the Three-Fifths Compromise was the beginning of the U.S. later evolving to where all people can have equal representation under the law. 

The anti-DEI state bill passed the state House by a 64-26 vote and the state Senate by a 34-16 vote. It awaits Braun’s signature. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to temper expectations for a major peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia on Sunday.

Rubio made the statement during a Sunday morning appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” telling host Kirsten Welker that a deal is “still not there.”

“We’ve made real progress, but the last couple steps of this journey were always going to be the hardest,” Rubio said. “It needs to happen soon. We cannot continue to, as I said, to dedicate time and resources to this issue if it’s not gonna come to fruition.”

“The last week has been about figuring out how close are these sides really, and are they close enough that this merits a continued investment of our time as a mediator in this regard,” he added.

TRUMP SAYS ‘INFLAMMATORY’ ZELENSKYY STATEMENT ON CRIMEA PROLONGS WAR WITH RUSSIA

Rubio argued it was “silly” to put a specific date or timeline on when the U.S. might pull out from mediation, but he said this will be “a very critical week.”

ZELENSKYY SPEAKS OUT AFTER PUBLIC SPAT WITH TRUMP, VANCE, SAYS DUSTUP ‘BAD FOR BOTH SIDES’

“This week is going to be a very important week at which we need to make a determination about whether this is an endeavor that we want to continue to be involved in, or if it’s time to sort of focus on some other issues that are equally if not more important in some cases,” he said.

President Donald Trump met face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican this weekend.

Neither Ukrainian nor White House officials gave many details on the meeting; however, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung said the leaders had “a very productive discussion.”

Zelenskyy later tweeted that the meeting was “very symbolic” and could potentially be “historic.”

This meeting comes as peace talks between Russia and Ukraine appear to be at a standstill, with Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin making competing demands.

“A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine. They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off.’ Most of the major points are agreed to. Stop the bloodshed, NOW. We will be wherever is necessary to help facilitate the END to this cruel and senseless war,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after arriving in Rome on Saturday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did not reveal any specifics about potential negotiations during a pre-recorded interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday.

“We are really polite people, and unlike some others, we never discuss in public what is being discussed in negotiations,” Lavrov told host Margaret Brennan. “Otherwise, negotiations are not serious. To ask for somebody’s opinion regarding the substance, go to Zelenskyy. He is happy to talk to anybody through media, even to President Trump.”

“Russia is always available for a dialogue,” Lavrov added.

When asked whether there would be a meeting between Trump and Putin, Lavrov said the two presidents are “masters of their own destiny and of their own schedule.”

Fox News’ Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.

Prosecutors in a left-wing Minnesota county attorney’s office will be required to consider defendants’ race when crafting plea deals, according to a local report citing internal documents. 

The office of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, which recently let a Democrat-connected alleged Tesla vandal off with a slap on the wrist, issued the internal document “Negotiations Policy for Cases Involving Adult Defendants.” It directs prosecutors to consider “racial identity and age” as they negotiate plea deals, local Minnestota outlet KARE 11 first reported last week. 

“While racial identity and age are not appropriate grounds for departures [from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines], proposed resolutions should consider the person charged as a whole person, including their racial identity and age,” the internal document states, according to the outlet.

“While these factors should not be controlling, they should be part of the overall analysis. Racial disparities harm our community, lead to distrust, and have a negative impact on community safety. Prosecutors should be identifying and addressing racial disparities at decision points, as appropriate,” it continues. 

STRING OF PLEA DEALS FROM MINNEAPOLIS DA OUTRAGES FAMILIES OF VICTIMS, DRAWS CONCERN FROM LEGAL EXPERTS

The policy changes are set to take effect on April 28, according to the outlet. Hennepin County encompasses the city of Minneapolis and is the most populous county in the Democrat-run state. 

The “Negotiations Policy for Cases Involving Adult Defendants” began circulating in the county attorney’s office last week, KARE 11 reported.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office on Sunday morning regarding the policy update, motivation behind the internal document and whether there are any concerns over the constitutionality of the changes, and is awaiting a response. 

The reported plea deal policy comes with constitutionality issues, according to KARE 11, which spoke to local attorneys to weigh in on the change. 

SOROS PROSECUTOR RIPPED FOR FAILING TO CHARGE WALZ STAFFER OVER TESLA VANDALISM: ‘TWO-TIERED JUSTICE SYSTEM’

“It both says, ‘Don’t take race into account,’ presumably because of the constitutional problems with taking race into account in addition to potentially political objections, but it simultaneously says this is something you should consider,” Jill Hasday, a University of Minnesota law professor, told the outlet. “And the problem for the drafters of this policy is, once you take race into account, it doesn’t really matter what else you say. The policy is going to be struck down.”

Another local attorney brushed off constitutionality concerns, saying that county prosecutors are directed to steer clear of racial disparities, not create them. 

“I definitely think that some people will get worked up about the issue, but I don’t see a constitutional problem, and that’s specifically because the policy tells prosecutors to avoid racial disparities. Not to create them,” University of St. Thomas law professor Rachel Moran told the outlet. 

The Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution requires states to govern impartially, meaning that states and official government actions cannot discriminate or treat individuals differently based on characteristics such as race. 

WALZ STAFFER ACCUSED OF VANDALIZING TESLAS MIGHT NOT FACE CHARGES: REPORT

“Our sentencing guidelines that criminal justice professionals use every single day in court say that race should not be used in that calculus. This seems to contradict our sentencing guidelines,” former Washington County, Minnesota, prosecutor Imran Ali told the outlet. “It’s inconsistent not only with our sentencing guidelines, but the policy in and of itself is inconsistent.”

The county attorney’s office told KARE 11 that race is an important factor to consider during plea deal negotiations “because we know unaddressed unconscious biases lead to racial disparities.” 

“This policy acknowledges that there are many factors to be considered in negotiations. Each case – and defendant – is unique. Someone’s age may change the likelihood of growth and change. A defendant’s race matters because we know unaddressed unconscious biases lead to racial disparities, which is an unacceptable outcome,” the office told the outlet. 

NUMBER OF TESLA ATTACKS SOARS PAST 50 AS VIOLENCE TARGETING MUSK’S COMPANY ESCALATES

“Our goal with this policy matches the goal of all our work: to achieve safe, equitable, and just outcomes that center the healing of victims while improving public safety,” the office continued. 

Fox News Digital previously reported that Moriarty has been backed by groups tied to money from liberal mega-donor George Soros, who has helped to install scores of soft-on-crime local prosecutors around the nation. She was first elected to the role in 2022 after working for more than two decades as a public defender in the county. 

Moriarty most recently made national headlines last week when her office bucked criminally charging a Minnesota state employee suspected of vandalizing six Tesla vehicles and causing $20,000 in damages. Instead, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said it would seek “diversion” over charges against Minnesota Department of Human Services data analyst Dylan Bryan Adams. The diversion approach “helps to ensure the individual keeps their job and can pay restitution,” according to the office. 

Teslas around the country have been targeted for vandalism as its CEO Elon Musk heads up President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has been auditing various federal agencies for government overspending, fraud and mismanagement.

Moriarty and her office also came under fire in October of 2023, when families of murder victims slammed a string of plea deals that had been offered to murder defendants, sparing them time behind bars, Fox News Digital previously reported. 

Fox News Digital’s Deirdre Heavey and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump’s administration has signaled there will be no REAL ID exceptions after Kentucky lawmakers requested a deadline extension. 

The Trump administration confirmed in a statement to Fox News Digital that states will need to comply by the May 7 deadline, despite Kentucky’s delay request, as a 20-year standoff between state and federal governments comes to a head with REAL ID’s real deadline.

“Beginning on May 7, passengers will need a REAL ID or another acceptable form of identification to fly, like a passport or military ID. TSA is committed to enforcing the law, as directed by Congress.”

“Non-compliant passengers may expect wait times or additional measures at airports. If you are an illegal alien without a REAL ID, the only way you will be permitted to fly is if you are self-deporting,” a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) spokesperson said when asked if extensions were on the table.

PANDEMIC, PRICE TAGS AND PRIVACY CONCERNS: WHY IT TOOK 20 YEARS TO IMPLEMENT REAL ID

Kentucky lawmakers, including Kentucky’s Senate Transportation Committee Chair Jimmy Higdon and 27 state senate leaders, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on April 17 requesting a delay on REAL ID enforcement, citing concerns among Kentuckians “who are still unable to access driver’s licensing services due to limited appointment availability and long lines for walk-ins.”

‘MASS SURVEILLANCE’: CONSERVATIVES SOUND ALARM OVER TRUMP ADMIN’S REAL ID ROLLOUT

“This simple request is to protect Kentuckians from bureaucratic burdens,” Higdon said. “Rural residents, seniors, and families still have hurdles in front of them, and in a lot of cases, may not be aware of their options. Only about 40 percent of our residents have a REAL ID, but I would also like more time to help Kentuckians understand that they may not need a REAL ID. Kentucky has made a good-faith effort, but we just aren’t there yet.”

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., sent his own letter to Noem on the same day, asking her to “please describe how you will ensure that there are not delays at TSA security checkpoints and what steps the TSA is taking to process travelers who arrive at airport security checkpoints without REAL ID-compliant identification.”

Reed said it seems like many passengers will not be compliant by May 7, pointing out that “20 percent of air travelers still use a form of identification that is not compliant with REAL ID requirements,” and “millions of Americans still do not have a REAL ID-compliant license or an acceptable alternative form of identification.”

Since President George W. Bush signed the REAL ID Act into law in 2005, states and advocacy groups have rejected its implementation for a range of reasons, including costs, states’ rights and privacy concerns.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) – a longtime opponent of REAL ID implementation – called it “discriminatory, expensive, burdensome, invasive, and ultimately counterproductive” in 2007 as disapproval grew nationwide. By 2009, at least 25 states had enacted legislation opposing the REAL ID Act. 

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While deadlines have shifted and implementation plans rolled out, Kentucky’s letter revealed states continue to panic over the REAL ID deadline as Americans line up at their local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and make appointments to secure their enhanced identification. 

America’s most notorious federal prison, a terrorist detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, took center stage for a short period in the early days of President Donald Trump’s first 100 days, when the administration began sending some of the “worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens there.

Also known as “Gitmo,” Guantánamo is a 45-square-mile high-security naval base in Cuba and houses some of America’s most deadly enemies, including the al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks.

In one of the first moves of his second term, Trump authorized the detention of illegal immigrants at the facility shortly after taking office on Jan. 20. 

Trump instructed the Pentagon to prepare 30,000 beds at the base to house “criminal illegal aliens” who pose a threat to the American public, adding that putting them there would ensure they would not come back.

PRESIDENT TRUMP BLASTS COURTS FOR GETTING IN THE WAY OF DEPORTATION AGENDA

At the time, Trump explained the decision, saying that some criminal migrants “are so bad that we don’t even trust the countries to hold them, because we don’t want them coming back, so we’re going to send ‘em out to Guantánamo.”

The president said the move would bring the U.S. one step closer to “eradicating the scourge” of migrant crime in communities, once and for all.

Then, shortly after the State Department declared 10 migrant gangs – including the Salvadoran MS-13 and Venezuelan Tren de Aragua as well as several Mexican cartels – “foreign terrorist organizations,” the administration began sending migrants through Gitmo, with several hundred passing through the base.

Among those sent to the base were several “high threat” illegal members of Tren de Aragua, which is an international terrorist and criminal group linked to Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro. Tren de Aragua – also known as “TdA” – has a presence in most major American cities and is linked to the high-profile murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and the seizure of an entire apartment building in Aurora, Colorado.

TRUMP ADMIN FILES FIRST RACKETEERING CHARGES AGAINST MASSIVE MIGRANT TERRORIST GROUP PRESENT IN US

The Department of Defense stated that the migrant criminals sent to Gitmo were being housed in vacant detention facilities and that the arrangement was only temporary “until they can be transported to their country of origin or other appropriate destination.”

Illustrating Guantánamo’s importance in the administration’s eyes, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made Gitmo his first naval installation to visit as secretary. In a social media post, Hegseth called Gitmo “the front lines of the war against America’s southern border.”

Speaking of the troops manning Gitmo, Hegseth said, “These warriors are directly supporting the apprehension and deportation of dangerous illegal aliens.”

However, the administration soon began running into snags, making it difficult to ramp up the naval base’s capacity to accommodate the 30,000 beds that Trump had wanted.

SUPREME COURT POISED TO MAKE MAJOR DECISION THAT COULD SET LIMITS ON THE POWER OF DISTRICT JUDGES

In early March, Fox News Digital reported that none of the 195 tents set up in Guantánamo Bay had been used to house migrants. According to two U.S. defense officials familiar with the matter, this was due to the tents not meeting ICE standards.

The officials said that the U.S. military was told to set up the tents without clear guidance as to what the standards for holding migrants are, and that the military had not received specific guidelines on what the tents need in order to be certified to hold the migrants. The operation to build more tents was halted in February, just several weeks after it started.  

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

Despite this, a congressional delegation of Republicans led by House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers visited Gitmo around the same time these difficulties were surfacing.

After the visit, Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., told Fox News Digital that “it is clear that Guantánamo Bay is operational and equipped to conduct these deportations.”

WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS ICE, SAYS DEMS, MEDIA WANT ‘SICK’ CRIMINAL MIGRANTS LEFT ON STREETS

On March 14, Fox News Digital reported that the 40 remaining illegal migrants being held at Guantánamo Bay had been sent back to the United States to be held in Louisiana. Of those returned to U.S. soil, 23 were “high-threat illegal aliens.”

It is unclear whether the U.S. will again hold migrants at Guantánamo. Representatives for the White House and DHS did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment prior to publication deadline.

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Meanwhile, the U.S. has begun partnering with the government of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to send illegal gang members to El Salvador’s “Terrorist Confinement Center” (CECOT). The U.S. has sent several hundred Salvadoran and Venezuelan migrants to CECOT. 

Fox News Digital’s Cameron Arcand, Michael Dorgan, Liz Friden, Jennifer Griffin and Louis Casiano contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans are carving out $68.8 billion for President Donald Trump’s border wall and to hire more agents in the field amid talks on a massive bill to advance the commander-in-chief’s agenda.

While Trump spent much of his first term focused on a physical barrier between the U.S. and Mexico, the legislation now under consideration seeks to modernize the task with $46.5 billion for an integrated “border barrier system,” according to details first viewed by Fox News Digital. It would incorporate physical fencing along with updated surveillance tools, roads, and lighting.

The bill also aims to pay $5 billion for new facilities and personnel for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), something the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has sought since Trump came back to the White House.

ACLU APPEALS TO SUPREME COURT TO STOP VENEZUELAN DEPORTATIONS; BOASBERG HOLDS EMERGENCY HEARING FRIDAY NIGHT

It would specifically dedicate $4.1 billion to fund new front-line personnel to patrol the border, while also incentivizing new and current CBP staff with retention bonuses, among other measures – for which $2 billion is dedicated.

It would also put $813 million into modernizing CBP’s existing fleet of vehicles, with its current tech falling prey to mechanical issues and high maintenance costs.

The bill also seeks $2.7 billion to fund an array of modern technology that agents could use to crack down on illegal immigration at the border, including ground sensors, drones, radar, and remote surveillance technology, among other items.

For people caught crossing illegally, it would fund $673 million in upgrades to the U.S.’s current biometrics system aimed at tracking those illegal migrants.

Just over $1 billion in funding for new and updated air and maritime platforms is also included.

The legislation also puts millions toward threat-assessment and logistical planning for multiple upcoming international events in the U.S. – $1 billion for the 2028 Summer Olympics, and $625 million for the coming World Cup soccer championships.

Other funding items include $1 million to commemorate American victims of illegal immigrant crime, and $500 million to specifically crack down on cartel drug smuggling at the border.

Border security is a core pillar of congressional Republicans’ priorities in the budget reconciliation process. The Homeland Security Committee, which has jurisdiction over significant amounts of U.S.-Mexico border operations, was directed to use up to $90 billion in new spending to achieve those goals.

Trump administration officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and immigration czar Tom Homan, have emphasized the need for more funding to carry out the president’s agenda.

DHS sent a memo to House and Senate Republicans earlier this month warning that failure to pass the legislation “will undo all the Trump Administration’s Massive Successes.”

DEMOCRAT SENATOR VAN HOLLEN MEETS, SHAKES HANDS WITH ABREGO GARCIA

Budget reconciliation lowers the Senate’s passage threshold from 60 votes to 51 for certain items relating to federal spending, taxes, and the national debt. It therefore allows a party controlling the House, Senate and White House to pass sweeping reforms while entirely sidelining the opposing party, in this case Democrats.

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Republicans are aiming to use reconciliation to pass broad swaths of Trump’s agenda.

In addition to border security that includes new commitments to fossil fuel energy, the national defense, and Trump’s tax policies – both extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and fulfilling newer promises to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime pay, and retirees’ social security.

FIRST ON FOX: The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., will host symphony concerts featuring the music and life of American icon Dolly Parton this summer, Fox News Digital has learned. 

“The threads of my life are woven together through my songs. That’s why the project, Threads: My Songs In Symphony, is so special to me,” Parton said in the Kennedy Center’s announcement of the show, which was first exclusively shared with Fox Digital on Sunday. “It’s about sharing my music and my musical journey with audiences in a new way.”

The concert, called “Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony,” made its premiere last year in Nashville and has since toured the nation from Pittsburgh to Portland, Oregon. The Kennedy Center will host the program on June 26 and 27, with the National Symphony Orchestra performing hits such as “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” and “I Will Always Love You.”

Parton will not sing during the concerts, but the events will feature “a unique performance that honors her enduring spirit and unparalleled impact on American popular music culture.” The National Symphony Orchestra will perform alongside guest vocalists and musicians to deliver a “fresh symphonic take on the timeless songs of Dolly Parton,” according to the Kennedy Center. 

DOLLY PARTON SUPPORTERS PUSH PETITION TO RENAME NASHVILLE AIRPORT: ‘DEPARTIN’ FROM PARTON!’

“Bringing Dolly Parton’s music to life through the power of a full symphony orchestra has long been a dream of mine,” National Symphony Orchestra Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke said. “Dolly is one of the great storytellers of American music, and I am excited to bring her expansive catalog to the Kennedy Center. Through these unique symphonic charts, her music will be showcased like never before and will surely be an evening no one will want to miss!”

The concert is billed as “multimedia,” and will include imagery of the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer on screen that will lead “audiences in a visual-musical journey of her songs, her life, and her stories,” according to the Kennedy Center. 

“Dolly Parton is an American icon whose music resonates with people from all walks of life and we are overjoyed to bring her symphony to the Kennedy Center!” Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations at The Kennedy Center, told Fox News Digital. 

Tickets will become available to Kennedy Center members April 29 at 10 a.m., while the general public can begin purchasing tickets on May 1. 

Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell told Fox News Digital back in February that he and his team will help usher in the “Golden Age of the Arts” with shows Americans actually want to see after years of the performing arts center running in the red. 

DOLLY PARTON WARNS SABRINA CARPENTER SHE DOESN’T ‘MAKE FUN OF JESUS,’ USE SWEAR WORDS AHEAD OF COLLABORATION

“This will be the Golden Age of the Arts,” Grenell said. “The Kennedy Center has zero cash on hand and zero dollars in reserves – while taking tens of millions of dollars in public funds. We must have programs that sell tickets. We can’t afford to pay for content that doesn’t at least pay for itself right now. I wish we didn’t have to consider the costs of production, but we do.” 

KENNEDY CENTER SHAKE-UP WILL USHER IN ‘GOLDEN AGE OF THE ARTS’ UNDER TRUMP, RIC GRENELL PREVIEWS

“The good news is that there are plenty of shows that are very popular, and therefore the ticket sales will pay for themselves,” Grenell added. 

Grenell added during remarks at CPAC that the Kennedy Center will now focus on performances “the public want to see,” such as Christmas-focused productions in December. The Kennedy Center under the Biden administration had rolled out drag show performances, which drew the ire of President Donald Trump earlier this year. 

“We have to do the big productions that the masses and the public want to see, we want to have really good programming,” Grenell said at CPAC. “So the first thing that we’re doing … you’ve got to be at the Kennedy Center in December, because we are doing a big, huge celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas. How crazy is it to think that we’re going to celebrate Christ at Christmas with a big traditional production to celebrate what we are all celebrating in the world during Christmastime, which is the birth of Christ.”

A Wisconsin judge is threatening not to hold court in protest of federal authorities arresting her fellow judge Hannah Dugan last week.

Judge Monica Isham made the announcement in an email to judges across the state on Saturday. Her email, titled “Guidance Requested or I Refuse to Hold Court,” made clear she had no intention of working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“If there is no guidance for us and no support for us, I will refuse to hold court in Branch 2 in Sawyer County. I will not put myself or my staff who may feel compelled to help me or my community in harms way,” Isham wrote.

“I have no intention of allowing anyone to be taken out of my courtroom by ICE and sent to a concentration camp, especially without due process, as BOTH of the constitutions we swore to support require. Should I start raising bail money?” Isham wrote, referring to the Wisconsin state constitution as well.

NEW MEXICO SUPREME COURT BANS JUDGE AFTER ALLEGED TDA MEMBER ARRESTED AT HOME

“If this costs me my job or gets me arrested then at least I know I did the right thing,” she added.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon reacted to Isham’s ultimatum on social media, saying the threat was “problematic.”

NEW MEXICO JUDGE RESIGNS AFTER ALLEGED TDA MEMBER ARRESTED AT HIS HOME

Dugan was arrested and charged with obstruction of an official proceeding on Friday after evidence came to light that she had shielded the migrant from ICE agents, according to a criminal complaint. She was also charged with concealing an individual to prevent discovery and arrest.

Federal agents from ICE, FBI, CBP and DEA attempted to arrest the undocumented male – Mexican national Eduardo Flores-Ruiz – following his scheduled criminal court appearance before Dugan on April 18 to face three misdemeanor battery charges for allegedly beating two people.

Dugan demanded that the officers proceed to the chief judge’s office and – after his hearing ended – escorted Flores-Ruiz and his attorney out a restricted jury door, bypassing the public area where agents were waiting in order to help him avoid arrest, per the complaint.

Dugan has worked with legal aid organizations and as executive director of Catholic Charities in the past. She was elected to Branch 31 of the Circuit Court in 2016 and ran unopposed in the 2022 election. She primarily oversees cases in its misdemeanor division, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.

In a dramatic move to protect America’s cattle industry, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has warned Mexico that the U.S. will halt imports of live animals — including cattle and bison — if Mexico doesn’t step up efforts to combat a dangerous pest creeping northward.

In a letter sent Saturday and obtained by Fox News, Secretary Rollins put the Mexican government on notice to act immediately to fight the spread of the New World screwworm or face serious economic consequences on the border. 

The USDA has set a firm deadline of April 30 for Mexico to address the growing crisis, or U.S. ports of entry will slam the door on key animal commodities.

FEDERAL DIETARY GUIDELINES WILL SOON CHANGE FOR AMERICANS, HHS AND USDA ANNOUNCE

“I must inform you that if these issues are not resolved by Wednesday, April 30, USDA will restrict the importation of animal commodities, which consist of live cattle, bison, and equine originating from or transporting to Mexico to protect the interest of the agriculture industry in the United States,” Rollins wrote.

The New World screwworm, a flesh-eating fly whose larvae can decimate livestock populations, has been spreading rapidly from Central America into southern Mexico. USDA officials have long relied on a sophisticated sterile insect technique (SIT) program — using specially equipped aircraft to release sterile flies — to keep the deadly pest in check. But that strategy is now in jeopardy.

MAINE’S FEDERAL FUNDING FREEZE FROM TRUMP’S USDA REVERSED

At the heart of the conflict is Dynamic Aviation, a U.S. government-contracted carrier tasked with aerial fly dispersals. According to the letter, Mexican aviation authorities are limiting Dynamic’s operations to just six days a week under a temporary 60-day permit, a move the USDA says undermines the urgent, around-the-clock response needed to stop the screwworm’s advance.

Even more troubling, Rollins said Mexican customs officials are imposing hefty import duties on critical supplies like sterile flies, aviation parts and dispersal equipment — all fully funded by U.S. taxpayers to benefit both nations. These delays are expensive and threatening to cripple the campaign just when speed is most vital.

Rollins is demanding immediate action from Mexico, including long-term operational clearance for Dynamic Aviation, full duty waivers on all emergency materials and the appointment of a senior-level liaison to fast-track solutions.

Every day lost, Rollins warned, gives the screwworm a bigger foothold and risks devastating American ranchers and the broader agricultural economy.

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In a bid to salvage cooperation, Rollins also proposed an emergency U.S.-Mexico summit with government leaders, technical experts and operational partners to get back on track.

The message from Washington is clear: Mexico must move — and fast — or face tough new trade restrictions designed to protect America’s food supply and farming communities.

President Donald Trump has expressed doubts that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to end its war with Ukraine which has raged for more than three years.

Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday to express his frustration with the Russian leader in a week that saw Russia launch a deadly missile attack on Kyiv. The Thursday attack on Ukraine killed at least 10 and injured at least 90, including children, Ukraine said.

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump wrote, shortly after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Vatican on Saturday at Pope Francis’ funeral. 

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“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”

This is a breaking news story and will be updated. 

It’s virtually illegal to make a left turn in many parts of New Jersey, and bipartisan lawmakers there are outraged at how equally difficult it is to make a REAL ID appointment as of late.

“We’ve known for years that this deadline was coming,” state Assemblymember Nancy Muñoz, R-Union, told Fox News Digital on Friday.

“There’s no excuse for the Motor Vehicle Commission to be this unprepared. Constituents are waking up early, refreshing their screens, only to watch appointments vanish in seconds,” Muñoz, the Budget Committee’s minority leader, said.

“Some are driving over an hour just to find an available slot: It’s outrageous.”

REAL ID SEES NATIONWIDE STATE GOVERNMENT COMPLIANCE AHEAD OF THE DEADLINE BUT IT WASN’T ALWAYS THAT WAY

New Jersey, like all states and territories, is fully legally compliant with the Department of Homeland Security’s new standards, which require a driver’s license to have a star affixed to a corner to confirm the holder has provided additional identifying documentation in order to board a domestic flight.

But the Garden State ranked last out of 49 states that responded to a CBS News survey on the percentage of residents who have actually obtained REAL IDs.

Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald, D-Cherry Hill, told Fox News Digital he understands residents’ concerns and panic, noting the deadline has been pushed back several times since President George W. Bush signed the law in 2005.

“Now we’re heading into summer, folks have travel plans, and they’re being told they’ll have to wait months just to get an appointment,” Greenwald said.

NO ‘REAL ID’ APPOINTMENTS OPEN IN NEW JERSEY AS RESIDENTS SOUND OFF: ‘GET WITH THE TIMES, NJ’

“There’s no reason in the 21st century that we should still be relying solely on in-person appointments, which are time-intensive, often require residents to take off work or travel long distances, and where a single forgotten document means starting the process all over again.”

Greenwald said New Jersey’s appointments system is more troublesome than other states like neighboring Pennsylvania, which allows residents to apply for REAL IDs online, and which he called a “common sense” tweak that’s not prohibited by the feds.

In that regard, Greenwald said he will introduce a bill in Trenton to direct the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) to begin online processing of REAL ID applications to help fix the backlog and other issues.

“[That way,] New Jerseyans can obtain their REAL IDs easily and conveniently, without unnecessary delays,” he said.

A source familiar with New Jersey’s REAL ID rollout told Fox News Digital that because it is one of a handful of states where illegal immigrants can get “status-neutral” licenses, its low personal compliance proportion differs from states where only citizens can get drivers’ licenses — so there is a baseline percentage of drivers who cannot get a REAL ID to start with.

Only green-card holders and U.S. citizens can get a REAL ID. Passports also remain acceptable for travel for people without a REAL ID.

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The MVC has noted it holds weekly “REAL ID Thursdays” — where only REAL ID applications are processed, not learner’s permits or renewals — and employees are also required to work two weekends per month to better serve the public.

Nonetheless, Muñoz said the state has had enough time to plan for the rush of New Jerseyans who need one.

When reached for comment, Gov. Phil Murphy’s office directed Fox News Digital to the MVC.

An agency spokesperson said the MVC has been working “nonstop” to help as many residents as possible.

“Our challenges are not unique to New Jersey — every state in the nation is facing similar pressures as the deadline approaches,” the spokesperson said. 

“Our state has made REAL IDs available for the past five and a half years — since September 2019. We are currently issuing approximately 23,000 REAL IDs per week and remain focused on delivering efficient service and to ensure that every eligible New Jerseyan can secure one.” 

FIRST ON FOX: President Trump’s “nicotine freedom crusade” rolling back Biden-era policies related to nicotine and tobacco products could be primed to reverse a key rule that experts who spoke to Fox News Digital say would be a critical step forward. 

Shortly before Trump was sworn into office, Biden’s FDA proposed a rule that it described at the time as “bold” that “would make cigarettes and certain other combusted tobacco products minimally or nonaddictive by limiting the level of nicotine in those products.”

Cigarettes and “certain other combusted tobacco products” would not be allowed to have more than 0.7 milligrams of nicotine per gram of tobacco under the proposed rule, according to the FDA. The agency said that lower nicotine levels would “be low enough to no longer create or sustain addiction.” 

While the FDA insisted at the time that the rule “would not ban” cigarettes, critics disagree and are optimistic that Trump will continue his push for nicotine freedom and upend the rule. 

TRUMP FDA NOMINEE TURNS VACCINE QUESTION ON DEM, RECALLING CONTROVERSIAL BIDEN DECISION

“The Biden legacy on tobacco policy is one of hamfisted regulations, crippling bureaucracy, and prohibition fueling massive criminal markets — from cigarettes to Chinese vapes,” Rich Marianos, former assistant director of the ATF, executive director of the Tobacco Law Enforcement Network, told Fox News Digital. 

“President Trump can put the nail in the coffin of that failed era by killing this insane ban on cigarettes and focusing resources on vigilant enforcement.”

Peter Brennan, Executive Director of the New England Convenience Store & Energy Marketers Association (NECSEM), told Fox News Digital that “prohibitionist tobacco policy” ends up punishing small businesses by “taking sales out of our stores and pushing them into the streets and the illicit market.”

FDA PHASING OUT SOME ANIMAL TESTING IN ‘WIN-WIN’ FOR ETHICS AND PUBLIC HEALTH: COMMISSIONER

“Biden’s plan to ban all cigarettes is a real threat that is still hanging over our heads.” Brennan said. “We are hopeful that President Trump will help America’s convenience stores by putting a stop to this disastrous idea.”

Trump has taken several actions in the nicotine space since taking office, including withdrawing a proposed rule seeking to ban menthol cigarettes, after the Biden administration said it intended to make the ban become a reality after years of advocacy from anti-smoking groups.

Months later, FDA Tobacco Director Brian King, who critics believed was a key figure behind the administration’s efforts against banning menthols and the “war on nicotine” was removed from his post in a move that experts who spoke to Fox News Digital praised earlier this month. 

“President Trump has succeeded in his nicotine freedom crusade since taking office, repealing Biden’s misguided menthol ban and firing the FDA architect behind it,” a Republican strategist who worked to elect Trump in 2024 told Fox News Digital this week. “The logical next step is to officially repeal a Biden-era rule on banning low nicotine products, which will be the final blow to Biden’s war on nicotine.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the FDA for comment. 

Biden’s perceived “war on nicotine,” along with the surge in illicit Chinese vapes flooding the market over the last few years, is believed by some to have hurt his presidential campaign along with that of VP Kamala Harris, who eventually took his place on the ticket. 

“If President Trump withdraws Biden’s disastrous rule that would effectively ban cigarettes, it would be a huge win for his working-class coalition,” a person close to the Trump administration told Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital’s Alec Schemmel contributed to this report. 

President Donald Trump is closing in on the first 100 days of his administration this week, wrapping up three months marked by an unprecedented use of executive orders, and continued discussions surrounding a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. 

Trump met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store at the White House Thursday, where he said that he and other allies are trying to wrap up a deal between Moscow and Kyiv in the near future. Still, he said he would stick to his own timeline. 

“I have my own deadline,” Trump told reporters Thursday. “And we wanted to be fast. And the Prime Minister’s helping us.”

“He wants it to be fast, too,” he said. “And I think everybody in this, at this time in NATO, they want to see this thing happen.”

The White House did not provide comment to Fox News Digital regarding details of the deadline. 

Trump’s team has signaled optimism about a deal this week, and Vice President JD Vance disclosed on Wednesday that a proposal is on the table. However, he said that time is limited and if neither party agrees, the U.S. will withdraw itself from advancing those discussions. 

The deal would require both Russia and Ukraine to give up some of their territory, but that the lines would remain “close to where they are today,” according to Vance. 

Here’s what also happened this week in the Trump administration:

The White House went to bat for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who has come under additional scrutiny following a New York Times report that Hegseth shared information about a March military airstrike against the Houthis in a Signal messaging app group chat that also included his wife, brother and personal lawyer. 

In March, the Atlantic reported about an initial Signal group chat that included Hegseth and Vance to discuss the same attack on the Houthis. In that chat, Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidently included. 

HEGSETH FACES LATEST BATTLE DEFENDING HIS SECRETARY OF DEFENSE POST AT THE PENTAGON 

The most recent incident has prompted lawmakers to call for Hegseth’s resignation, even though Hegseth maintains no war plans were disclosed in the chats. Despite a report from NPR that said the White House was considering finding a new secretary of defense amid the controversy, the Trump administration has voiced support for Hegseth this week. 

“He is bringing monumental change to the Pentagon, and there’s a lot of people in the city who reject monumental change, and I think, frankly, that’s why we’ve seen a smear campaign against the Secretary of Defense since the moment that President Trump announced his nomination before the United States Senate,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.

“Let me reiterate: The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth and the change that he is bringing to the Pentagon, and the results that he’s achieved thus far speak for themselves,” Leavitt said.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump departed Washington Friday morning to attend Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome Saturday. The Vatican announced that Pope Francis died Monday at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. 

“Rest in Peace Pope Francis!” Trump said in a Monday post on Truth Social. “May God Bless him and all who loved him!”

POPE FRANCIS AND US PRESIDENTS: A LOOK BACK AT HIS LEGACY WITH THE NATION’S LEADERS

The pope’s death came a day after Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, met with him in one of the reception rooms of the Vatican hotel just hours before his death. 

Additionally, Trump signed an executive order Monday ordering all U.S. flags be flown at half-staff on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels to remember Francis. The order also applies to all U.S. embassies, legations, consular offices and other facilities abroad, including military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

Former President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, are also planning to attend the Rome funeral.

Trump also signed seven executive orders pertaining to education, including several that would incorporate artificial intelligence into K-12 school curricula, modify school discipline and accreditation guidelines, and update requirements for the disclosure of foreign funding to schools.

Meanwhile, Trump’s Education Department also announced Monday it would resume collections on defaulted federal student loans in May for the first time since 2020. 

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO RESUME COLLECTIONS ON DEFAULTED FEDERAL STUDENT LOANS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2020

The first Trump administration paused referring federal student loans to collections in March 2020 during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Trump administration officials are concerned that the pause has led the federal student loan portfolio to be “headed toward a fiscal cliff if we don’t start repayment in collections,” according to a senior department official.

“The result has been that the federal government student loan portfolio has continued to grow, and we’ve got a record number of borrowers that are at risk of or in delinquency and default,” the senior department official told reporters Monday.

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report. 

A recent profile piece on Alex Soros, the heir to the vast liberal mega donor George Soros’ progressive fundraising network, suggested the younger Soros has hurt the family brand with his public profile in recent years.

The article, posted by New York Magazine this week, takes place in Alex Soros’ luxury penthouse in Manhattan and characterizes the home as an example of his indifference to public opinion, which the story suggests hasn’t been beneficial to the family’s Open Society Foundations.

“The setting itself is a testament to a certain indifference to public opinion on Alex’s part — or perhaps a lack of awareness,” the story says. 

ALEX SOROS FUMES AT LEFT-WING CLIMATE GROUP OVER ‘PALESTINE’ OBSESSION: ‘WHAT THE HELL’

“This past fall, he held a fundraiser at the apartment for vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, then created a PR headache by posting photos from the event on social media, as is his custom after meeting heads of state and elected officials. (As a former OSF higher-up says, Alex likes to collect “shiny objects.”) 

“It was deemed unhelpful to a presidential ticket straining to underscore its regularness that the son of the 94-year-old hedge-fund billionaire accused of puppeteering the Democratic Party was publicly advertising his centrality to the election effort from a New York City penthouse.”

MEET THE FAR-LEFT GROUPS FUNDING ANTI-DOGE PROTESTS AT GOP OFFICES ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Soros drew strong criticism on social media over the photo with Walz in his penthouse standing next to a vice presidential candidate who had been labeled as someone who would resonate with rural and working-class voters.

“This guy goes around saying he’s a small town midwestern guy who understands the struggles of the middle class and then goes to hang out at the floating home in the sky of the world’s biggest billionaire nepo baby,” digital strategist Greg Price wrote on X at the time.

“A post like this does nothing to help Kamala Harris & Tim Walz win — if anything, it hurts them,” journalist Jerry Dunleavy posted on X at the time. “So why would Soros post something like this? To publicly signal his power & influence within the next would-be presidential administration.”

New York Magazine wrote that Alex Soros’ “fondness for collecting powerful figures embarrasses people at the foundation.”

“It also underscores his influence. OSF is by some measures the second-largest charitable foundation in the United States, trailing only the Gates Foundation. It gives out roughly $1.5 billion a year, and it spends its U.S. budget not only on liberal causes but also on some of the big dark-money nonprofits aligned with the Democratic Party, including America Votes, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and the pro-Harris spending group Future Forward USA Action.”

Fox News Digital has documented Soros’ online presence, which includes all the photos he takes with Democratic politicians in recent years, and his Rolodex includes some of the most powerful politicians in the Democratic Party. During the Biden administration, Soros visited the White House over 22 times and met with both Biden and Harris.

His social media profiles have dozens of pictures of him and leading House and Senate Democrats since 2018. The two who appear the most are Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California. Alex had at least nine meetings with Schumer, whom he referred to as his “good friend.” 

Soros had at least eight visits with Pelosi, whom he has called the “greatest Speaker of the House in American History!” 

Soros has donated millions to Democrats over the past several years, albeit far less than his father. In 2020, he contributed over $700,000 to the Biden Victory Fund, making him among its top donors. For the 2024 cycle, he maxed out $6,600 in donations directly to Biden’s campaign, federal filings show.

Since the 2018 elections, he has poured more than $5 million into federal political coffers. Records show that his largest contribution was $2 million to the Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC during this time. 

He’s also contributed hundreds of thousands in cash to the Nancy Pelosi Victory Fund, Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He has given tens of thousands more to state Democratic parties and individual campaigns, many of which were maximum contributions. 

The article notes that the Soros network spent hundreds of millions in the last election cycle trying to elect Democrats and push progressive causes and that Soros was “probably the biggest liberal donor of the most recent election cycle” but that it is “hard to know for sure because of untrackable dark-money spending.”

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